


Blossoming

by jessaverant



Series: The Maheswaran Universe Family [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Fluff, Gen, Jam-Bomb 2018, New Baby, New Family Fluff, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 12:22:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13857705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessaverant/pseuds/jessaverant
Summary: Connie and Steven's first night at home with their new baby. | Technically a sequel to 'To Bloom', but you don't need to read that to understand this one.For Day 3 of the Jam Bomb on Tumblr: Newborn baby





	Blossoming

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [To Bloom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12896472) by [jessaverant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessaverant/pseuds/jessaverant). 
  * Inspired by [To Bloom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12896472) by [jessaverant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessaverant/pseuds/jessaverant). 



> I saw this prompt for the Jam Bomb and knew I wanted to continue this little family AU! In this story, Connie is in college and they're renting a tiny apartment near her school while the Gems keep the beach house warm. They're not married (yet) and the baby came as a total happy surprise.

The entire neighborhood was quiet when they returned to their tiny apartment on Chestnut Hill Ave. One bedroom, one bath, balcony barely big enough for the both; a scant ten-minute walk from the nearest campus building for Connie. A thirty-five-minute drive to Beach City for Steven.

A semi-used bassinet for their baby, in the corner of their bedroom.

“Oy,” Steven mumbled as Lion pushed past him through the front door. The feline sat on his haunches in the middle of the tiny kitchen, tail flapping hard against the tile floor, watching with big eyes as Steven hauled a baby carrier onto the kitchen counter. “Lion, you’re in the _way._ ” Lion sniffed loudly, eyes trailing Steven’s every move. The baby slept soundly in her carrier, still content from leaving the Temple.

Connie entered last, pulling the door closed and collapsing on the futon, pulling her arms up into her hoodie and hugging herself soundly. Steven was bustling in the kitchen, opening and closing cabinets, moving things around for the following day.

_It was their first night at home with the baby._

“Steven?” Connie called, slumping into the futon, eyes closed. Lion padded over to her and hopped up beside her, resting his head in her lap. She threaded her fingers through his mane and smiled down at him, already relaxing in his comforting presence. He was warm and heavy on her lap and she thought she could fall asleep right there.

“Yeah?” Steven finally called from the kitchen. Without opening her eyes, Connie waved towards the kitchen.

“Can you bring me some water?”

“Of course,” Steven said, and he hopped over to the sink. After retrieving a water bottle, he picked up the baby carrier and brought himself and the baby over to Connie and Lion, setting the carrier down on the coffee table. He handed the bottle of water to Connie and sat down on the floor beside the carrier, cross-legged, eating a yogurt he pilfered from the fridge. Connie drank gratefully and put the bottle on the side table, leaning back and closing her eyes once more, still petting Lion. Lion yawned and began to purr, keeping a watchful eye on the baby carrier all the while.

For a moment, the only sounds in the apartment were the whine of the refrigerator and Lion’s soft purring. The baby was sleeping silently and Steven snacked as quietly as he could, eyes never straying from his exhausted partner. He was tired, too, but he couldn’t even imagine how Connie felt. Connie, who had just one month earlier spent nearly twenty-four hours in labor, only to have to be rolled into surgery at the end of it all. Steven just watched her breathe deeply, his hoodie swallowing her whole, messy braid tucked neatly over her shoulder. His cheeks started to heat up in a blush as he looked, still enamored with her after all this time.

Lion’s ears twitched and he lifted his head, peering at the carrier on the coffee table. The movement was met with a soft noise, and Steven sat up to look inside himself.

The baby had woken up and was making small gurgling sounds inside her carrier. She had lost her tiny pink hat and had wiggled out of her blanket, hands resting on her abdomen. Steven placed his yogurt cup down on the coffee table and reached inside for the bundle, smiling.

“Hey, you,” he said softly, unclasping her and pulling her out of the blanket nest. She was wearing the same pink onesie she had worn for most of her stay in the hospital, buttoned up to her neck. He nestled her in his arms and she looked impossibly tiny against his huge frame. She looked up at him with round chocolate brown eyes, full lips parted slightly, looking as if he were the most interesting thing in the world. “You’ve got quite the gaze on me, huh?”

“She’s learning your face,” Connie said from the futon, eyes still closed. She opened one eye, the same color as her daughter’s, and gave a half smile. “She knows her dad.” The baby’s eyes darted over to Connie at the sound of her voice, and she stared straight ahead, taking in the sight of Connie on the futon with Lion.

“Looks like she knows her mom, too,” Steven said softly, matching Connie’s smile. The baby then looked back up at Steven, putting one hand in her mouth as she did so. “Is your hand tasty, baby?”

“She has a name,” Connie said, finally opening both eyes and sitting up straight. She stretched lightly and leaned her elbows on her knees. “Remember? We _literally_ just told the Gems.”

“I know, I know,” Steven admitted, reaching down and using one finger to stroke the baby’s cheek. “But it still seems… weird.” Connie chuckled.

“It’s always strange to address babies by adult names, huh?” she said, pulling the elastic from her braid and running her fingers through it to loosen it. “It’s like, she’s so tiny, how can she have the name of a full-grown woman?” Steven chuckled, eyes still on the baby.

“Well, there’s that, but, I mean… it’s weird calling someone _else…_ ” he trailed off, thoughts muddling. Connie pursed her lips, scratching Lion’s belly as he rolled onto his back.

“Calling her ‘Rose’, you mean?” Connie asked, tilting her head and watching Steven as she spoke. Steven bit his lower lip and continued to watch the baby in his arms, allowing her tiny hand to wrap around his finger.

_Rose._ That was her name. His baby. His daughter. She bore the name that, in another lifetime, his own mother would have had.

_Rose Universe._

“Remember what my dad called her?” Connie asked, standing and crouching beside Steven where he was still seated on the floor. She placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Rosie-Posie?”

“Heh, yeah,” Steven said, running a hand through her head of tight black curls. “I’m sure Amethyst has already come up with about ten nicknames.” Connie leaned forwards and placed a kiss to the top of his head, face nestled in his long, thick curls. She laid her cheek against his head and looked over at Lion, who was now sitting up on the futon, ears alert. They sat in silence, content with only the sound of little Rosie gurgling in Steven’s arms. It was then that Connie heard a sniff from Steven that sounded suspiciously like crying, and she lifted her head to face him. A single tear was snaking down his cheek, and Connie leaned in and pressed a kiss against it to stop it in its tracks. She pulled back and wiped the tear away, rotating her thumb in soothing circles against his cheek.

“You okay?” Connie whispered, and he nodded, sniffling again. Connie reached down and pulled the baby from his arms, holding her up above her. “Hi there, Rosie.”

Rosie flared her nostrils and stuck out her tongue, kicking her feet idly as she remained suspended mid-air.  Connie stood, returning to the futon and sitting back down, bringing Rosie into her arms. Rosie continued to kick her feet while tucked, wiggling her entire lower body as if attempting to run away.

“Where do you think _you’re_ going, young lady?” Connie asked in a mock stern voice, and Steven was suddenly reminded of Priyanka. “You’re certainly not going anywhere for a while!” She tickled Rosie’s stomach and the baby let out a laugh that sounded more like a shriek. Lion was sitting straight beside them, watching. Steven couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride in Lion’s fraternal instincts towards his daughter.

_His daughter. He had a daughter._

_He’s a father now._ The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Rosie was born exactly one month ago; he’d been a father for one month. But it hadn’t felt that way, not while she’d been in the NICU all this time. Their home was still baby-less, they were still running around without a real schedule, still acting like the irresponsible kids that they essentially had been before news of Connie’s surprise pregnancy. But now? _Now it’s real._

“…and when you _do_ learn to go places,” Connie was saying in a soft voice, bringing Steven back to the present, “you’ll do it with joy, and with kindness. Right?” Rosie didn’t respond, instead kicking one foot up and tapping it to Connie’s chin. Connie giggled. “Right. Of _course_ you will.” She glanced up and caught Steven’s eye, still bent over her daughter in a protective stance.

“You will be so _wonderful_ ,” she said to Rosie while still looking at Steven. “You will be empathetic, and warm, and loving, and you will carry kindness with you everywhere you go.” Her voice died to a whisper, still caught in Steven’s gaze, and her cheeks darkened with a flush. Steven had been leaning on his elbow on the coffee table, watching the two of them in adoration. More tears had formed in his eyes but they didn’t fall, not yet.

“You know what else she’ll be?” Steven said softly, rising to his feet and joining the pair on the futon. Lion hopped off and instead curled up on the floor, continuing to watch them from his new perch. Steven settled beside Connie, stretching one arm over her shoulders, pulling her head into the crook of his neck. Rosie, still quiet, leaned her head back to look at Steven, and Connie shifted the baby from one elbow to the other so she could get a better look at her parents together.

“What else will she be?” Connie asked in the same quiet voice. Steven pressed a kiss to the top of her head before laying his cheek against it, rubbing her shoulder.

“She’ll be brave,” he said, looking down at the tiny face tucked into Connie’s arms. “And strong. And fierce. And _smart._ ” He squeezed Connie’s shoulder. “She’ll be smarter than anyone else.”

“She’ll love to read,” Connie added, taking one finger and tickling Rosie’s stomach again. “She’ll love romance and fantasy novels.”

“And historical fiction,” Steven added. “But she won’t like it when romance is shoe-horned in by worried publishers.”

“She’ll make up her own stories,” Connie said. “When the actual story isn’t good enough.”

“She’ll love numbers, and science.”

“But she might not really _get_ science, so she’ll ask a lot of questions.”

“And she’ll love medical dramas.”

“And cartoons!”

“And she’ll open her heart to all sorts of possibilities,” Steven said in a whisper into Connie’s hair. “And she’ll believe in magic, and love, and friendship, even when she isn’t sure if they’re real.”  Steven reached out and placed his other hand on Connie’s opposite shoulder, rubbing the same soothing circles into her shoulder that she did for him earlier in the evening. Connie relaxed into the hold, bringing Rosie closer to them, re-tucking her arms under the baby. Rosie had fallen back to sleep by now, and snuggled into Connie’s arms.

“She’ll always try to help every person she meets,” Connie said. “And she’ll keep trying, even if it fails. Even if they hate her. She won’t stop trying to be their friend.” She could feel the corners of Steven’s lips tick upwards against her scalp, and a low laugh rolled down on her from above, his entire chest moving against her in laughter.

“I love you,” Steven murmured into her hair, placing another kiss to her head. “I love you _and_ our baby.”

“I love you, too,” Connie whispered, finally tearing her eyes away from Rosie’s face and turning to look up at Steven. “And her. _So_ much.” They locked eyes again, grinning at each other jubilantly. They then both looked down at Rosie, who seemed to be fast asleep.

“And Rosie?” Steven said softly, leaning down towards the sleeping babe. “If you’re not any of those things? That’s okay, too.” A hush fell over the trio and it wasn’t even four minutes later that mother, father and baby were all fast asleep.


End file.
